Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is most important that there is development and a pathway for people throughout the regions. I understand and have studied the Trinity programme, which is centralised in a major urban centre. For people with disabilities, either learning or physical, the difficulty is travelling. What needs to be done in the programme over the next couple of months is to assess the need within communities and how many people are falling between the cracks.

I have many experiences of people who go through second level education and because the system is not built to embrace them, encourage them and ensure they go on through education to the best of their ability, they fall through the cracks. It is necessary to look at those who have been left behind heretofore, as well as those in the future, to see how a network and realistic framework can be built throughout the higher education sector that will embrace people, and will look at their potential and what they can do. They have an enormous amount to contribute to society if we give them the enabler, which, of course, is the educational tools. It is necessary to look at the need, those that have fallen through the cracks, where they are now and how they can be rehabilitated into a newer system, and also plan for the future to make sure there is regional balance and supports for people.

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